By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
KEIZER, Ore.– Blanchet’s Joseph Beyer had a plan entering Monday’s 3A/2A/1A Special District 2 League Meet: Being aggressive.
After a less than ideal start to his day on the first hole at the McNary Golf Course, three putting the opening hole to par, Beyer settled in. He parred the second, got a birdie on the third before getting par’s on the fourth, fifth, and seventh holes. Beyer was sitting even at this point after the seventh hole.
That was when his aggressive play paid off and gave him some momentum going into the turn.
“I don’t usually hit driver on eight, but my plan today was to stay aggressive. So I hit driver, I got 185 yards in and I just hit a great six iron and made a great putt to make Eagle and that just kind of fueled the rest of the round right there,” said Beyer.
He shot a three on the par-5 eighth hole for Eagle, and with a par on nine, Beyer went into the back nine with a 34 score. For par on the front nine at McNary is 36. And on the back nine, any ground he lost on that two-under with boogey’s (on 11 and 12), he made up for it with birdie’s on the 12th and 13th holes to break even on the back nine when he entered the clubhouse after the round. He finished the round with a 69, two-under par. Par at McNary is a 71.
“I’m speechless. I’ve never shot under-par and I’ve known I can do it for so long and finally putting a round together where those things are firing, it was awesome,” said Beyer, who finished first individually.
Getting back to work and practicing is the plan for the senior now in preparation for the final stretch of his high school career.
Blanchet won the event as a team with a 313 score with Dominick Hauge (80, fifth), Facundo Zaror (81, Tied for eighth) and Kaden Orizotti (83, tenth) finishing in the Top 10. Western Christian finished second as a team with Kaden Robinson and Gage Slaughter finish second and third respectively individually as the Pioneers are coming off a fourth-place finish as a team last Spring in 3A/2A/1A. Knowing they faded on Day 2 of the State Tournament, the squad is determined to make up for it this season if they make it back to the final tournament of the season.
“Last year, being our first year, we noticed that we can compete with the guys out here and that we know we can play a better game than we did at State. I’m just really proud of our guys battling like they did,” said Slaughter. “Being at State and being in third-place, we thought we would just get third-place on the second day, and we fell apart and got fourth. We weren’t too happy about that, but that makes us work harder this year and focus on our golf game.”
Speaking of the State Tournament and aspirations, Salem Academy’s Trenton Crane came close in reaching the State Golf Tournament last season as a junior when he finished sixth at the District Meet. And with the goal still in mind of reaching the State Golfing Tournament, Monday was just another day at the office for Crane, who came within a shot of cracking a sub-80 round on Monday.
“I felt like I played really well, I was really hoping I had the birdie putt there on 18 to break 80 for the first time in my High School Tournament. But I was happy with that, I was striking the ball well,” said Crane. “Just the confidence that comes with knowing that I’m right there knocking on the door to break 80 and I’m trending in the right direction for Districts, and that’s really important. I want to get to State so badly this year to just say I was able to do that and know that all extra work in the Summer would actually all pay off. I really, really want to get there.”
And for newbies on the scene, Amity’s Austin Carrasco played in his first Varsity tournament on Monday, shooting an 118 on the day and finishing 49th in the tournament. The Warriors finished 11th as a team with Ryker Brown leading the squad with a round score of 107.
“I can definitely improve on my drive. I feel like my driving definitely needs some improving, you know the little things here and there,” said Carrasco. “My approach game, I feel like my approach game was what really saved me today, but definitely a bunch of little things to improve upon. It’s a great day for golfing and just improving from here on. “
Regis finished eight as a team as Eli Silbernagel led the Rams with a 13th place finish.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
